text:
A couple years ago, my cousin gave me her old violin that she never played, and it is for sure over fifty years old. When she found it, the pegs were really loose and they will not stay in their place at all. The violin itself is in pretty good condition, just a couple scratches here and there, and apart from the pegs, the only things that need replacing are the strings, which is not a big problem at all.
Is there any way I could get the pegs to stay in their position myself without having to pay a whole lot of money to replace them?


text:
"Real children don't go hoppity-skip unless they are on drugs."
Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on.
She'd become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do. And she'd taken to it well. She'd sworn that if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she'd beat herself to death with her own umbrella.
This is very similar to the suggestion put forward by the Quirmian philosopher Ventre, who said, "Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right?" When he died he woke up in a circle of gods holding nasty-looking sticks and one of them said, "We're going to show you what we think of Mr Clever Dick in these parts..."
Biers was where the undead drank. And when Igor the barman was asked for a Bloody Mary, he didn't mix a metaphor.
"Did you check the list?" YES. TWICE. ARE YOU SURE THAT'S ENOUGH?
"That statement is either so deep it would take a lifetime to fully comprehend every particle of its meaning, or it is a load of absolute tosh. Which is it, I wonder?"
"Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time."
Everything starts somewhere, though many physicists disagree. But people have always been dimly aware of the problem with the start of things. They wonder how the snowplough driver gets to work, or how the makers of dictionaries look up the spelling of words.
We took pity on him because he'd lost both parents at an early age. I think that, on reflection, we should have wondered a bit more about that.
It's a sad and terrible thing that high-born folk really have thought that the servants would be totally fooled if spirits were put into decanters that were cunningly labelled backwards. And also throughout history the more politically conscious butler has taken it on trust, and with rather more justification, that his employers will not notice if the whisky is topped up with eniru.
The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head.
+++ Divide By Cucumber Error. Please Reinstall Universe And Reboot +++
"Millennium hand and shrimp."
The L-Space Web is a creation
of The L-Space Librarians
This mirror
site is maintained by Colm Buckley

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Occupation: Photographer
I was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and lived in Dallas area for quite sometime. Currently, I live in Allen, Texas.
I am born-again Christian and my soul has been saved by Jesus Christ, the Son of God!!!
Art and Photography are my passions and my hobbies are music, travel and exercise & Arts. In fact, I started photography around my family and friends when I was a teenage girl. I love taking photos of Nature, Architecture, Historical Places and Events etc. Since the year 2000, I have several photo collections of different types. God willing, I have a plan to show my artwork collections at a gallery one day in the future.
God bless you all


text:
3V Tech is pleased to announce that yet another valuable Wet Air Oxidation project has successfully been completed!
The WAO-package for the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) was entirely designed by 3V Tech's engineering team and has been realized in our workshop in Dalmine, Italy. This allowed us to guarantee the highest engineering and manufacturing quality standards, resulting in an outstanding final result and complete customer satisfaction.
The FAT has been completed, he plant has been shipped and is currently being erected on site at the Jebel Aly ENOC Refinery (Dubai, UAE). Pre-commissioning activities will be supervised by 3V Tech during the month of July and commissioning will be completed and managed by our process team during September.
With this job 3V Tech has again demonstrated to be a premium and central player in the Oil & Gas industry, complying with all the highest project requirements, with a fully customer-oriented approach, always enhancing the job quality and ensuring good relations with the end user.


text:
by Cindy Brennan
Weather, unpredictable and ever-changing, featured prominently in today's race at Baystate Cyclocross (see yesterday's report here). Early morning racers faced not only a treacherously icy course, but also black ice on roads in the surrounding area causing a delayed start for the first race. As a light rain fell, the icy dirt softened to greasy mud, creating increasing challenges on an already tough race course for Rounds 9 & 10 of the Verge New England Cyclocross Series, the premier amateur series in the US.
The Elite women took to the muddy course, and a determined Crystal Anthony (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) attacked as some riders struggled on a muddy off-camber. As Anthony moved into the lead, Arley Kemmerer (C3-Twenty20 Cycling Co.) made sure she led the chase, not wanting to let Anthony go. Mo Bruno Roy (Bob's Red Mill p/b Seven Cycles), adept in tricky conditions like these, had her eye on the podium as she moved into the third spot, while yesterday's winner and USA Cycling ProCX points leader Elle Anderson (California Giant Strawberries/ Specialized) struggled with some bike issues in fourth.
Anthony created an eight-second gap, but Kemmerer was determined; Kemmerer's focused riding returned the talented racer to Anthony's wheel, and the two remained locked in battle for much of the race. Bruno Roy and Anderson also traded swipes, fighting for that third podium step, but Anderson escaped. Anthony attacked Kemmerer repeatedly in the final lap, eventually escaping to claim a well-deserved victory with Kemmerer in a strong second. Bruno Roy put in an amazing ride, chasing Anderson down, but ultimately Anderson prevailed for third.
"I loved the course today. It was like going to Belgium without having to travel!" exclaimed an exuberant Anthony, happy with the technical conditions today. Stay tuned for interviews with Anthony, Anderson and Kemmerer.
Like in the women's race, the first technical muddy off-camber section created a decisive split in the field. Jeremy Durrin (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) seized the opportunity presented by the pile-up in the first lap to launch a solo attack, quickly gaining a strong lead on the field. Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus), Curtis White (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com), Dan Timmerman (House Industries – Richard Sachs), and Anthony Clark (JAM Fund / NCC) organized to hunt Durrin down, but Durrin's lead only grew. Seeing he needed to take the matter into his own hands, Powers set off on his own to bridge to Durrin.
Meanwhile, Clark bobbled, leaving Timmerman and White warring for third. Powers dropped Durrin's lead to twenty seconds, then fifteen, then twelve, but was unable to shut down Durrin's lead. Jeremy Durrin crossed the line first, finally earning a win and verifying that his season is really on the upswing. As Powers claimed second, White boldly attacked the technically proficient Timmerman early in the last lap. White held Timmerman off to claim third place.
Stay tuned for interviews with Durrin and White.
In the Verge New England Cyclocross Series, racers endured classic cyclocross weather: mud, ice, rain, and fog, on a challenging race course. Ryley Mosher (WheelWorks) and Daniel John Vaughn (Corning/No Tubes/Swan Cycles) retain the 10-14 Juniors jerseys in the girls' and boys' divisions. Stephen Pierce (JAM Fund/NCC/Vittoria) retains his lead in the category 3 men's division, while Mike Magur (Verge Sport) strengthens his lead in the 35+ category. Ian Keough (Keough Cyclocross p/b Felt Bicycles) . Melissa Seib (Bikeman) holds a strong lead in the amateur women's field, while Alisa Allegrini (Nantucket Velo) appears similarly unstoppable in the 35+ masters women's field. 45+ leader Roger Aspholm (Finkraft Cycling Team) retains the series jersey, and 55+ leader Al Blanchard (Finkraft Cycling Team) also keeps that jersey.
Next, NBX Gran Prix of Cyclocross will be the setting for the fiery finale of both the Shimano New England Professional Cyclocross Series presented by Verge and the Verge New England Cyclocross Series. The true champions in all categories, amateur and Elite, will be decided at NBX on December 7 & 8.
Elite Women's Top 10
- Crystal Anthony (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)
- Arley Kemmerer (C3-Twenty20 Cycling Co.)
- Elle Anderson (California Giant Strawberries/ Specialized)
- Maureen Bruno Roy (Bob's Red Mill p/b Seven Cycles)
- Amanda Carey (Stan's NoTubes Elite)
- Jenny Ives (Verge Sport-Test Pilot)
- Kate Northcott (Ness)
- Elizabeth White (UVM Cycling)
- Emma White (Cyclocrossworld.com)
- Ellen Noble (Trek Cyclocross Collective)
Elite Men's Top 10
- Jeremy Durrin (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)
- Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus)
- Curtis White (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com)
- Dan Timmerman (House Industries – Richard Sachs)
- Anthony Clark (JAM Fund / NCC)
- Jerome Townsend (BikeReg.com / Joe's Garage)
- Josh Dillon (BikeReg.com / Joe's Garage)
- Robert Marion (American Classic Pro CX Team)
- Daniel Chabanov (House Industries – Richard Sachs)
- Sam O'Keefe (C3 – Twenty20 Cycling Co.)


text:
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text:
Accuplacer Test - An assessment to identify a student's academic strengths and weaknesses in reading, writing, and mathematics. This information is used to provide advisement and placement in courses that best help the student improve skills in these areas, as well as study skills.
Add deadline - The latest date in a semester to add a course to a student's class schedule.
Admission – The process of being admitted to Roane State allowing you to register for classes. Completion of the admissions process does not constitute registration for classes.
Admissions file – The documents collected for admission to the college. These documents include application, transcripts, test scores, immunization record, and any other information required by the Admissions and Records Office.
Advisor – A full-time faculty member who meets with designated students to help make curriculum choices and discuss progress toward achieving educational goals.
Articulation agreement – A document that outlines the curriculum agreed to by Roane State and a four-year college or university to satisfy the degree requirements at Roane State and at the receiving four-year institution.
Associate's degree – An associate's degree is awarded to students after completion of a core curriculum. Students completing options in University Parallel (transfer) programs receive the Associate of Science (A.S.),Associate of Arts (A.A.), Associate of Fine Arts (A.F.A.), or Associate of Science in Teaching (A.S.T.) degree. Students who complete options in Career Preparation programs receive an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree.
Audit – Taking a course but not for credit. Students pay required fees and attend class but are not required to complete assignments or take exams.
Budget - The allotted amount a student can receive if receiving financial aid.
Career Preparation – An Associate of Applied Science degree program for students who wish to seek employment after completing two years of college work.
Census - 14th calendar day of each semester. Financial aid awards (for files that have been verified) are based on enrollment status at time of census date.
Corequisite – A course that is required to be taken simultaneously with another.
Course – A subject or class in which instruction is offered within a given period of time for a semester and for which credit toward a degree is given.
Course load – The total number of semester hours or credit hours in which a student is enrolled for a semester.
Credit hour – One hour of classroom study per week over the period of a semester.
Curriculum – The whole body of courses offered for study by the college or by a particular department.
Drop deadline – The latest date in a semester to add or drop a course from a student's class schedule.
Elective – A subject or course that is accepted toward fulfillment of credit for a degree or certificate but is not specifically required for that degree or certificate. So termed because a student elects or chooses to take the course.
Enrollment Verification for Entitlements Act (EVEA) - Tennessee House Bill 1379/Senate Bill 1325 requires that any applicant to a college or university that receives funding from the State of Tennessee and is classified as "In-State" for tuition purposes will be required to provide proof of U.S. Citizenship or proof of Permanent Resident Status.
Full-time student – A student enrolled in 12 or more credit hours of coursework per semester.
Grant – Financial aid that does not have to be paid back.
High School Equivalency (HSE) - A certified diploma which is equivalent to a regular high school diploma. Acceptable tests are the GED and the HiSET.
Humanities – Any course at Roane State in art, literature, humanities, music, philosophy or theatre.
Learning Support – Foundation courses in English, math, reading, and study skills designed for students who are not fully prepared for college level courses. Placement in Learning Support courses may be determined by ACT, SAT, or Accuplacer test scores or by high school GPA.
Loan – Financial aid that must be paid back, usually within a specified time.
Major – The academic area offered by Roane State in which one specializes.
NSE - New Student Experienece
Part-time student – A student enrolled in less than 12 credit hours of coursework per semester.
Physical/Natural Science – Any science that deals with phenomena observable in nature – biology, chemistry and physics.
Prerequisite – A course requirement to be completed or a level of skill or knowledge to be demonstrated prior to enrollment in a course or program.
Probation – The status of students when their cumulative GPA drops below college standards. Students may still enroll while on probation.
RaiderNet - Students' one-stop hub for all of their college-related business. Students use RaiderNet to access course registration, financial aid information, e-mail and other services
Readmit – An Admissions form students must fill out if they have not attended Roane State for one or more semesters.
R# - A unique computer generated student identification number.
Registration – The process of officially enrolling in one or more courses. Students must be admitted to Roane State before they can register for classes.
Residency - 1.Refers to whether or not a student qualifies for in-state maintenance fees. 2. Refers to the amount of coursework that must be taken at Roane State in order to receive a degree or certificate from the college.
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) - An appeal needed by students who have reached maximum hours (90 or more) at a community college level or those who are/have been on financial aid probation for low grades/GPA.
Semester – A period of instruction lasting 15 weeks at Roane State. Two semesters, fall and spring, ordinarily compose a college year. The third semester, summer, is optional and may be used as a time to catch up or get ahead.
Social Science – Any course at Roane State in anthropology, economics, geography, political science, psychology, or sociology.
Suspension – The status of students when their cumulative GPA drops below Roane State's standards for two consecutive semesters. Students may not enroll while on suspension.
Transcript – An official record of academic history including coursework and grades.
University Parallel – Major programs of study designed primarily for students who wish to transfer to a four-year college or university and complete a baccalaureate degree. The credits earned from these programs lead to the A.S. or A.A degree.
Withdrawal - Officially dropping a course(s) for a given term. This action is to be completed before the published "Last Day to Withdraw" during the given semester.
Roane State Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity or national origin, sex, disability, age, status as protected veteran or any other class protected by Federal or State laws and regulation and by Tennessee board of Regents policies with respect to employment, programs, and activities. View full non-discrimination policy.


text: Repositories of Lisp source code are described in the answer to question [6-1]. Remember, when ftping compressed or compacted files (.Z, .arc, .fit, etc.) to use binary mode for retrieving the files. The Allegro CL 3.0 Web Version for Windows is a full functional free version of our Dynamic Object Oriented Programming Development System for ANSI standard CLOS, with some limitations*. This version includes an in-core native 32-bit compiler, a drag & drop Interface Builder, full debugging and development tools and an editor. We sell a supported version of this software, Allegro CL for Windows, without these limitations. For more information, call 1-800-3-CLOS-NOW or 1-510-548-3600, fax 1-510-548-8253, or send email to email@example.com. Franz's web page is located at the URL http://www.franz.com/ Suggestions and bug reports should be sent to firstname.lastname@example.com. Since this software is unsupported, they may not get back to you, but the input is still welcome. * The limitations are: limited heap size, no foreign function support, missing compile-file, missing disassembler and missing save-image. The documentation fully explains these capabilities. CLiCC (Common Lisp to C Compiler) generates C-executables from Common Lisp application programs. CLiCC is not a Common Lisp system, and hence does not include any program development or debugging support. CLiCC is intended to be used as an add-on to existing Common Lisp systems for generating portable applications. (CLiCC has been tested in Allegro CL, Lucid CL, CMU CL, CLISP, and AKCL. It should run in any CLtL1 lisp with CLOS.) CLiCC supports CL_0, a subset of Common Lisp + CLOS, which excludes EVAL and related functions. At present CL_0 is based on CLtL1, but is headed towards CLtL2 and ANSI-CL. The generated C code (ANSI-C or K&R-C compatible) may be compiled using a conventional C compiler on the target machine, and must be linked with the CLiCC runtime library in order to generate executables. CLiCC has a foreign function interface. CLiCC is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.informatik.uni-kiel.de:/pub/kiel/apply/clicc-0.6.4.tar.gz [188.8.131.52]. CLiCC was developed by Wolfgang Goerigk <email@example.com>, Ulrich Hoffman <email@example.com>, and Heinz Knutzen <firstname.lastname@example.com> of Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel, Institut fuer Informatik und Praktische Mathematik, Preusserstr. 1-9, D-24105 Kiel, Germany. The authors welcome suggestions and improvements and would appreciate receiving email even if you just used CLiCC successfully. For more information, send mail to email@example.com. CLISP is a Common Lisp (CLtL1 + parts of CLtL2) implementation by Bruno Haible of Karlsruhe University and Michael Stoll of Munich University, both in Germany. It runs on microcomputers (DOS, OS/2, Atari ST, Amiga 500-4000) as well as on Unix workstations (Linux, Sun4, Sun386, HP9000/800, SGI, Sun3 and others) and needs only 1.5 MB of RAM. It is free software and may be distributed under the terms of GNU GPL. German and English versions are available, French coming soon. CLISP includes an interpreter, a compiler, a subset of CLOS (e.g., no MOP) and, for some machines, a screen editor. Packages running in CLISP include PCL and, on Unix machines, CLX and Garnet. Available by anonymous ftp from ma2s2.mathematik.uni-karlsruhe.de:/pub/lisp/clisp/ [22.214.171.124] For more information, contact email@example.com. There is a mailing list for users of CLISP. It is the proper forum for questions about CLISP, installation problems, bug reports, application packages etc. For information about the list and how to subscribe, send mail to firstname.lastname@example.com, with the two lines help information clisp-list in the message body. A Sybase SQL interface interface for CLIPS is available by anonymous ftp from wuarchive.wustl.edu:packages/clips2sybase/. For more information, write to Sherry Steib <firstname.lastname@example.com>. CMU Common Lisp (CMU CL) is free, and runs on HPs, Sparcs (Mach, SunOs, and Solaris), DecStation 3100 (Mach), SGI MIPS (Iris), DEC Alpha/OSF1, IBM RT (Mach) and requires 16mb RAM, 25mb disk. It includes an incremental compiler, Hemlock emacs-style editor, source-code level debugger, code profiler and is mostly X3J13 compatible, including the new loop macro. It is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.cmu.edu:/afs/cs.cmu.edu/project/clisp/release [184.108.40.206] Login with username "anonymous" and "userid@host" (your email address) as password. Due to security restrictions on anonymous ftps (some of the superior directories on the path are protected against outside access), it is important to "cd" to the source directory with a single command. Don't forget to put the ftp into binary mode before using "get" to obtain the compressed/tarred files. The binary releases are contained in files of the form <version>-<machine>_<os>.tar.Z Other files in this directory of possible interest are 17f-source.tar.gz, which contains all the ".lisp" source files used to build version 17f. A listing of the current contents of the release area is in the file FILES. You may also use "dir" or "ls" to see what is available. Bug reports should be sent to email@example.com. ECoLisp is a Common Lisp implementation which compiles Lisp functions into C functions that use the C stack and standard procedure call conventions. This lets Lisp and C code be easily mixed. It can be used as a C library from any C application. It is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.di.unipi.it:/pub/lang/lisp/ [22.214.171.124] ftp.icsi.berkeley.edu:/pub/ai/ecl/ [220.127.116.11] as the file ecl-??.tar.gz where ?? is the version number. This is an alpha release. So far it has been tested on Sun workstations (SunOS 4.x), SGI (IRIX 4.x), and IBM PC (DOS/go32). For more information, please contact Giuseppe Attardi <email@example.com> or <firstname.lastname@example.com>. GNU Common Lisp (GCL) is a free implementation of Common Lisp (CLtL1) based originally on Austin Kyoto Common Lisp (AKCL). Versions 1.0 and above of GCL (aka versions 1-625 and above of AKCL) are available under the GNU General Public Library License v2.0, and no longer require the kcl.tar file to build the system. For information on previous versions of AKCL, see the KCL entry. GCL generates C code which it compiles with the local optimizing C compiler (e.g., GCC). It is intended to eventually support the ANSI standard for Common Lisp. GCL runs on Sparc, IBM RT, RS/6000, DecStation 3100, hp300, hp800, Macintosh (under A/UX), mp386, IBM PS2, IBM RT_AIX, Silicon Graphics 4d, Sun3, Sun4, Sequent Symmetry, IBM 370, NeXT, Vax, and IBM PC 386/486 (linux, bsd). GCL version 1.0 and above are available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cli.com:/pub/gcl/ [220.127.116.11] math.utexas.edu:/pub/gcl/ [220.127.116.11] as the file gcl-X.X.tgz (e.g., gcl-2.1.tgz), where X.X should be replaced with the version number; you'll generally want the largest version number. The bandwidth to math.utexas.edu is higher than cli. The file pcl-gcl-1.0.tgz contains a port of PCL (CLOS) to GCL. The file xgcl-2.tgz contains an interface to X Windows for GCL, including a low-level interface to Xlib, and in addition to being available from the above sites, is also available from ftp.cs.utexas.edu:/pub/novak/xgcl/ http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/novak/ For more information, write to William Schelter <email@example.com> (or <firstname.lastname@example.com>, <email@example.com>). GCL is under continuing development, and folks interested in helping should send him email. Andy Wang <firstname.lastname@example.com> has compiled GCL 1.0 for Linux 1.1.50 (using gcc 2.5.8 and libc 4.5.26) and made the resulting binaries available by anonymous ftp from sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/Incoming/gcl-1.0.bin.tgz Kyoto Common Lisp (KCL) is free, but requires a license. Conforms to CLtL1. KCL was written by T. Yuasa <email@example.com> and M. Hagiya <email@example.com> at Kyoto University in 1984. Austin Kyoto Common Lisp (AKCL) is a collection of ports, bug fixes and improvements to KCL by Bill Schelter (<email@example.com> or <email@example.com>). Since 1994, AKCL versions 1-625 and higher are covered by the GNU GPL, so generally one will generally not need KCL (see GCL above for details). {A}KCL generates C code which it compiles with the local C compiler. Both are available by anonymous ftp from rascal.ics.utexas.edu:/pub/ [184.108.40.206] ftp.cli.com:/pub/ [18.104.22.168] utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.JP:/pub/ [184.108.40.206] KCL is in the file kcl.tar, and AKCL is in the file akcl-xxx.tar.Z (take the highest value of xxx). To obtain KCL, one must first sign and mail a copy of the license agreement to: Special Interest Group in LISP, c/o Taiichi Yuasa, Department of Computer Science, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi 441, JAPAN. Runs on Sparc, IBM RT, RS/6000, DecStation 3100, hp300, hp800, Macintosh (under A/UX), mp386, IBM PS2, Silicon Graphics 4d, Sun3, Sun4, Sequent Symmetry, IBM 370, NeXT and Vax. For the beta test version of the DOS port, see the files akclexe.zip and go32sexe.zip in math.utexas.edu:/pub/msdos/akcl-beta/ Commercial versions of {A}KCL are available from Austin Code Works, 11100 Leafwood Lane, Austin, TX 78750-3409, Tel. 512-258-0785, Fax 512-258-1342, E-mail email@example.com, including a CLOS for AKCL. See also Ibuki, below. PowerLisp is a Common Lisp development environment for the Macintosh. It consists of a Common Lisp interpreter, native-code 680x0 compiler, 680x0 macro assembler, disassembler, incremental linker and multi-window text editor. It requires a Macintosh with at least a 68020 processor (any Mac except a Plus, SE or Classic) and system 7.0 or later. About 2 megabytes of RAM are required to run it, and to do much with it you need more like 5 or 6 megabytes. Like any Common Lisp system, the more memory the better. PowerLisp has the ability to run in the background. While executing a Common Lisp program, the user may switch to another application as it continues to run. You can also edit programs while a Common Lisp program is running. PowerLisp is targeted to be compatible with CTLTL2 without CLOS (for now) but some Common Lisp functions are not yet implemented. Upcoming versions should include the remaining language features. The current released version is 1.10. PowerLisp is available from America Online and Genie as a shareware program ($50). It is also available from the Lisp Repository, as ftp.cs.cmu.edu:/user/ai/lang/lisp/impl/powerlsp/v1_10/powerlsp.hqx Written by Roger Corman. For more information, send mail to firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com or email@example.com (RogerC34 on America Online). RefLisp is a small Lisp interpreter. Versions exist for MS Windows, MS-DOS and UNIX (AIX). The MS-DOS version supports CGA/EGA/VGA graphics and the Microsoft Mouse. The interpreter is a shallow-binding (i.e., everything has dynamic scope), reference counting design making it suitable for experimenting with real-time and graphic user interface programming. Common Lisp compatibility macros are provided, and most of the examples in "Lisp" by Winston & Horn have been run on RefLisp. RefLisp makes no distinction between symbol-values and function-values, so a symbol can be either but not both. RefLisp comes with an ASCII manual and many demonstration programs, including an analogue clock which never stops for garbage collection. It is written in ANSI C and is in the public domain. Source and binaries are available from the author's Web site at http://www.ozemail.com.au/~birchb/reflisp.html and from the Lisp Utilities repository by anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.cmu.edu:/user/ai/lang/lisp/impl/reflisp/ For further information, send email to the author Bill Birch <email@example.com>. WCL is an implementation of Common Lisp for Sparc based workstations. It is available free by anonymous ftp from cdr.stanford.edu:/pub/wcl/ [126.96.36.199] as the files wcl2.2-solaris-src.tar.gz, wcl2.2-solaris-bins.tar.gz, wcl2.2-sunos4-src.tar.gz, wcl2.2-sunos4-bins.tar.gz, and wgdb4.2-sunos4.tar.gz. It includes a native solaris version (but with no dynamic .o loading or wgdb yet...), can use any version of GCC 2.X (GCC 2.1 is no longer required), and includes separate binary and source distribution so that recompilation is no longer needed to install WCL and WGDB. The wcl2.2-*.tar.gz files contain the WCL distribution, including CLX and PCL; wgdb4.2-sunos4.tar.gz contains a version of the GDB debugger which has been modified to grok WCL's Lisp. WCL provides a large subset of Common Lisp as a Unix shared library that can be linked with Lisp and C code to produce efficient and small applications. For example, the executable for a Lisp version of the canonical ``Hello World!'' program requires only 40k bytes under SunOS 4.1 for SPARC. WCL provides CLX R5 as a shared library, and comes with PCL and a few other utilities. For further information on WCL, see the paper published in the proceedings of the 1992 Lisp and Functional Programming Conference, a copy of which appears in the wcl directory as lfp-paper.ps, or look in the documentation directory of the WCL distribution. Written by Wade Hennessey <email@example.com>. Please direct any questions to email@example.com. If you would like to be added to a mailing list for information about new releases, send email to firstname.lastname@example.com. XLISP is free, and runs on the IBM PC (MSDOS), Windows 95, Apple Macintosh, and Unix. It should run on anything with an Ansi C compiler. It was written by David Michael Betz, 18 Garrison Drive, Bedford, NH 03110, 603-472-2389 (H&W), email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com. The reference manual was written by Tim Mikkelsen. Version 2.0 is available by anonymous ftp from cs.orst.edu:/pub/xlisp/ [188.8.131.52] or sumex-aim.stanford.edu:/info-mac/lang/ Version 2.1g* is the same as XLISP 2.0, but modified by Tom Almy <email@example.com> to bring it closer to Common Lisp, in addition to fixing several bugs. The latest version of XLISP can be obtained by anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.cmu.edu:/user/ai/lang/lisp/impl/xlisp/ [188.8.131.52] It may also be available (in possible older versions) from ftp.biostr.washington.edu:/pub/xlisp [188.8.131.52] wasp.eng.ufl.edu:/pub [22.214.171.124] A Macintosh port of version 2.1e (and the C source code to its interface) is also available, from Macintosh ftp sites such as sumex.stanford.edu:/info-mac/dev/xlisp-21e2.hqx mac.archive.umich.edu:/mac/development/languages/xlisp2.1e2.sit.hqx The Macintosh version was written by Brian Kendig, <email@example.com>. To obtain a copy through US mail, send email to Tom Almy, firstname.lastname@example.com. A Windows version of the statistical version of xlisp is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cica.indiana.edu:/util/wxlslib.zip A version of XLISP-PLUS 2.1g that includes an experimental byte code compiler is available by anonymous ftp from umnstat.stat.umn.edu:/pub/xlispstat/xlisponly/ [126.96.36.199] as the file xlisp21gbc.tar.gz. Write to Luke Tierney <firstname.lastname@example.com> for more information.Go Back Up


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St. Martin's Press
Parent company | Macmillan Publishers (owned by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck) |
Founded | 1952 |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Headquarters location | New York City |
Key people | George Witte, Sally Richardson, Thomas Dunne, Jennifer Enderlin |
Imprints | Minotaur, St. Martin's Griffin, Thomas Dunne Books |
Official website |
stmartins |
St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers,[1] bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press (mainstream and bestseller books), St. Martin's Griffin (mainstream paperback books, including science fiction and romance), Minotaur (mystery, suspense, and thrillers), Picador (specialty books), Thomas Dunne Books (suspense and mainstream), and Truman Talley Books (business and speciality books). St. Martin's Press's current editor in chief is George Witte.
Macmillan Publishers of the United Kingdom founded St. Martin's in 1952 and named it for St. Martin's Lane in London, where associated press Macmillan Publishers was headquartered. It was privately held until the late 1990s when it was sold to Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC, a group of publishing companies held by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, a family owned publishing concern based in Stuttgart, Germany, which owns St. Martin's as well as some U.S. publishing houses, including Farrar, Straus and Giroux (of mostly literary fiction), Holt Publishers (literary non-fiction), and Tor-Forge Books (science fiction, fantasy, and thrillers).
Authors published by St. Martin include Sherrilyn Kenyon, M. K. Asante, Charlotte Bingham, John Bingham, Dan Brown, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Ken Bruen, Augusten Burroughs, Stephen J. Cannell, Blaize Clement, Ben Coes, Jackie Collins, Jennifer Crusie, Charles Cumming, Janet Evanovich, Diane Fanning, Julian Fellowes, Amanda Filipacchi, Joseph Finder, Lauren Fix, Frederick Forsyth, Brigitte Gabriel, James Herriot, L. Ron Hubbard, Murry Hope, Simon Kernick, Lisa Kleypas, Robert Ludlum, Robert Pagliarini, Gayle Lynds, Joseph Olshan, Michael Palmer, Robin Pilcher, Patrick Quinlan, Cathy Scott, Susan Arnout Smith, Wilbur Smith, Erica Spindler, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Shannon Delany, Jeff Hertzberg, and Darryl Wimberley. It also publishes the New York Times crossword puzzle books.
Its textbook division, Bedford-St. Martin's, was founded in 1981. In 1984, St. Martin's became the first major trade-book publisher to release its hardcover books by its in-house mass-market paperback company, St. Martin's Mass Market Paperback Co., Inc., founded by current President and Publisher Sally Richardson under the stewardship of then-President Thomas McCormack (with the assistance of entertainment consultant Maura E. Lynch).
- St. Martin's Press (mainstream and bestseller books)
- St. Martin's True Crime Library (true crime paperback books)
- St. Martin's Griffin (mainstream trade paperback books, including romance)
- Minotaur (Mystery, suspense, and thrillers); winners of the St. Martin's Press "Malice Domestic" First Traditional Mystery Contest receive a $10,000 one-book Minotaur publishing contract[2]
- Picador (specialty books)
- Thomas Dunne Books (suspense and mainstream)
- Tor Books, science fiction imprint, purchased by St. Martin's in 1986
- Truman Talley Books (business and speciality books)
- ↑ "Amazon shares slip; Macmillan titles still missing". Seattle Times. February 1, 2010. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
- ↑ The Poisoned Pen Bookstore (February 28, 2009). "Malice Domestic from St. Martin's Press". CrimeSpace.


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Official partner of the Saint-Etienne Greens, Le Coq Sportif continues its partnership with ASSE for a 3rd season. Thanks to lifestyle fashion wear, the ASSE Fanwear collection offers supporters the possibility to proudly wear their club's colours both in and outside the stadium.The Presentation Pants perfectly illustrate this as they can be worn off the pitch, They are crafted in cotton/polyester for optimal fit and comfort.
85% cotton / 15% polyester
85%Coton 15%Polyester


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This article is more than 1 year old
Security report becomes security risk
Mandiant's report on Chinese hacking used as bait in spear phishing attacks
A high profile security report released earlier this week detailing Chinese military involvement in widespread online attacks is itself now being used as a lure in spear-phishing attacks, according to researchers.
The report, APT1: Exposing One of China's Cyber Espionage Units, published by security firm Mandiant, made headlines across the globe as one of the first to detail a concrete link between the Communist Party and advanced persistent threat (APT) style attacks on a range of targets worldwide.
It claimed to have tracked down a group known as "APT1" or the "Comment Crew", which operated out of the same Shanghai tower blocks as a unit of the People's Liberation Army – 61398.
Now security vendor Symantec has spotted new targeted attacks using the report's notoriety to trick users into opening a malicious email attachment.
It explained the following in a blog post:
The email we have come across is in Japanese, but this does not mean there are no emails in other languages spreading in the wild. The email purports to be from someone in the media recommending the report. The attachment is made to appear like the actual report with the use of a PDF file and the name of the company as the file name. However, like in many targeted attacks, the email is sent from a free email account and the content of the email uses subpar language.
The PDF file hides malware detected as Trojan.Pidief which, if opened, executes exploit code for an Adobe Acrobat and Reader remode code execution vulnerability.
In this instance the exploit code doesn't drop any malware onto a user's computer, although Symantec warned that there may be other variants in the wild which are more dangerous.
A second malicious version of the report was spotted by security researcher Brandon Dixon.
Labelled "Mandiant_APT2_Report.pdf" – this malicious file is password protected but if opened appears to contain elements of the CVE-2011-2462 Adobe Reader exploit spotted back in December 2011, he wrote in a blog post.
"Once executed on the system, a new process under the name 'AdobeArm.tmp' was identified running and the original Mandiant APT1 report is shown," Dixon continued.
"This payload was collected back on November 6, 2012 and was completely unchanged showing a reuse in payloads even after several months."
The threat will then try to contact a domain used in previous attacks on human rights activists, he said.
Mandiant issued a notice on Thursday warning users only to retrieve the official report from its own web site.
"We are currently tracking the threat actors behind the activity and have no indication that APT1 itself is associated with either variant," it added. ®


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Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Fallout: New Vegas and Singularity (pictured) headline the six nominees for the Writer's Guild's Video Game Writing Award this year.
God of War III, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II round out the field of nominees. The winner will be named Feb. 5 at the annual Writers Guild Awards, which will take place simultaneously in Los Angeles and New York.
Writers who are Guild members or who have applied for membership are eligible, and they must have worked on a game that released between Dec. 1, 2009 and Nov, 30, 2010.
Last year's winner in this category was Amy Hennig for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The full citations for each nominee are:
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Story by Patrice Desilets, Jeffrey Yohalem, Corey May; Lead Script Writer: Jeffrey Yohalem; Script Writers: Ethan Petty, Nicholas Grimwood, Matt Turner. Publisher: Ubisoft
Fallout: New Vegas, Creative Design Lead/Lead Writer: John Gonzalez; Writers: Chris Avellone, Eric Fenstermaker, Travis Stout; Additional Writing: Tess Treadwell, George Ziets, Jason Bergman, Nick Breckon, Matt Grandstaff, Will Noble, Andrew Scharf. Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
God of War III, Written by Marianne Krawcyzk; Additional Writing by Stig Asmussen, Ariel Lawrence, William Weissbaum. Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Wii), Writer: Benjamin McCaw; Story Dialogue Editor: Marianne Krawczyk. Publisher: Ubisoft
Singularity, Written by Marc Guggenheim, Lindsey Allen, Emily Silver; Additional Story and Writing: Jason Henderson, Adam Foshko, Michael Cassutt; Story and Script Consultant: Adam Foshko. Publisher: Activision
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, Executive Producer-Writer: Haden Blackman; In-Game Script: David Collins, John Stafford, Cameron Suey; Additional Writing: Tid Cooney, Ian Dominguez, Tony Rowe. Publisher: LucasArts
2011 WGA Awards Video Game Writing Nominees Announced [News Release]


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Israel's Demographic Time-Bomb: An Arab-Majority State?
While Israel and the Palestinians have again broken off peace talks in Jordan, there is at least one factor unrelated directly to politics which might make the whole historic conflict irrelevant.
As in Arab Muslim countries, Palestinians have a very high birth rate - so high, in fact, that in a few decades to come, Arabs may outnumber Jews within the land of Israel.
Such an event would clearly pose a dire threat to Israel and its mandated Jewish identity.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his conservative, nationalist Likud Party have passed new measures to attract more Jews to relocate to West Bank settlements.
These incentives have outraged Palestinians who believe the Israeli leader is undermining peace talks.
Still, Netanyahu has alienated the more extreme elements of his party by agreeing (in principle) to the existence of an independent Palestinian state - which is anathema to ultra-nationalist Jews.
The West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel acquired in the Six-Day War in 1967, are both claimed by the Palestinians as integral parts of their future state.
Palestinians warn that if new Jewish settlements are not halted, Israel faces a single-state in which Arabs will outnumber Jews.
Israelis also fear such an outcome.
For many years, Israeli politicians and scholars have warned that the higher birth rate of the country's Palestinian population may ultimately lead to a state in which Jews become the minority - thereby threatening the very existence of the Jewish homeland.
According to press reports, Israel's Arab Muslim population is growing at a much higher rate than the annual growth of the Jewish population.
As of 2010, the population growth rate for Israel as a whole was at 1.9 percent - but it is 2.6 percent for Arabs, only 1.7 percent for Jews.
Although these rates have both fallen since the 1990s, it is clear the Arab population is expanding faster than the Jews.
Moreover, the median age of Arabs in the country (21.1 years) is far less than the figure for Jews (31.6).
Currently, Jews account for about 75 percent of Israel's population, with the remaining 25 percent most Arab Muslims (with some Arab Christians and Druze). [These percentages, of course, exclude the millions of Palestinians living in Gaza and West Bank].
Dr. Wahid Abd Al-Magid, editor of Al-Ahram's Arab Strategic Report, has predicted that Arabs may become a majority in Israel in 2035, and will certainly be the majority in 2048.
Some in Israeli's Jewish political establishment have already sounded alarms over the issue.
Early in the last decade, Dr. Yitzhak Ravid, an Israeli government armaments expert, proposed that Israel implement a stringent policy of family planning in relation to its Muslim population.
In a speech to Israel's parliament in 2007, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, warned of a demographic battle, drowned in blood and tears.
International Business Times discussed this topic with Ben Moscovitch, an expert on the Middle East and Israel, as well as the Israel blogger for the Foreign Policy Association.
IB TIMES: Is the Israeli government concerned that the Palestinian birth rate is higher than the Israeli birth rate? If so, are they taking any steps to encourage more Jewish women to have children?
MOSCOVITCH: I cannot speak for the Israeli government, but Israeli leaders and analysts are split on whether the disparity between birth rates of Arab-Israeli citizens and Jewish-Israelis suggests that eventually the state will have a non-Jewish majority that will lead to a bi-national, one-state solution.
It is important to distinguish between the Israeli Arab citizens (those residing in mainland Israel) and Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza, as the latter group will not likely be incorporated into Israel in a future peace agreement that would establish a Palestinian state.
The government already has an extensive welfare program that benefits all Israeli citizens, including the ultra-Orthodox and Arab-Israelis, not just Jews. Through that program, families are provided with additional social services and funding based on the number of children born. This program is advocated by the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which have very high birth rates and often live in poor conditions, therefore government subsidies support these families.
Similarly, Arab-Israeli citizens, who also have high birth rates, receive the same funding to help support their families. There is equality for all Israeli citizens in this regard.
IB TIMES: Is the Arab birth rate problem an exaggeration used by fear-mongers? Or is it a legitimate concern?
MOSCOVITCH: As it stands, the birth rate of Arab-Israeli citizens is higher than that of Jewish Israeli citizens. The Jewish population in Israel today is approximately 75 percent, down from 80 percent in the mid-1990s, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.
However, when you develop the economy and infrastructure of a society and a people, that group's birth rates are expected to drop dramatically for several reason: infant mortality is reduced (in part from access to clean water) therefore women birth less children; there is a decrease in agricultural work, therefore less children's help in the fields is necessary; among other reasons.
All of Israel, including Israeli Arab citizens, is developing rapidly. As such, Arab women's birth rates are dropping. Similarly, Palestinian birth rates should drop, as the Palestinian Authority has prioritized economic institution building. If successful and the Palestinian economy continues to grow, Palestinian birth rates should drop.
IB TIMES: What role does the ultra-Orthodox community play in this drama?
MOSCOVITCH: The ultra-Orthodox community continues to grow and have very high birth rates. This group of Jewish Israelis believes they have a God-given mandate to procreate and increase the number of Jews both in Israel and around the world.
Excluding the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, I believe the Jewish birth rates fueled by ultra-Orthodox procreation practices, will continue to increase while the Arab-Israeli birth rates will drop as their villages are further developed. Extrapolating these trends, there is no urgent demographic threat, but the situation should be closely monitored to ensure that the population, regardless of citizenship status, remains predominantly Jewish.
IB TIMES: There are millions of Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza. What about them?
MOSCOVITCH: Annexation of the West Bank by Israel would substantially skyrocket Arab population numbers, and the birth rates of non-Jews would remain high and potentially surpass the Jewish Israeli population. For this reason, it is imperative that Israel not annex the West Bank and negotiate a comprehensive peace with the Palestinians to ensure Israeli security and provide the Palestinians with sovereignty in their own state.
Without a two-state solution and the annexation of the Palestinian population of the West Bank, Israel will eventually turn into a single, bi-national state that would dissolve Israel's Jewish identity.
IB TIMES: Is it possible that someday Arabs could soon outnumber Jews in Israel; or at least in parts of Israel?
MOSCOVITCH: The largest Arab populations are in southern Israel, where Bedouin birth rates are quite high. Similarly, there are high birth rates in northern Israel, such as around Haifa. Those areas, aside from the West Bank, would represent the areas where high Arab birth rates could pose the largest threat.
IB TIMES: Let's go back to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which is committed to having large families. Are they too few in number to be of any significance?
MOSCOVITCH: The ultra-Orthodox community is a major factor, and it is growing rapidly. The rise in numbers of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community is causing many problems. For example, many in the ultra-Orthodox community do not work, and instead pray and procreate. Therefore, the government welfare system is subsidizing this growing community that is consuming resources and not producing economic development. But, with population growth also emerges additional political clout, and a top priority of the ultra-Orthodox community is ensuring that its members continue to receive government funding.
Addressing the welfare system's inherent flaws should be among the Israeli government's top concerns, more so than the demographic threat, as the country will go bankrupt from those choosing unemployment well before Arabs will become the majority.
IB TIMES: Hypothetically, if there were more Arabs than Jews in Israel, what would happen? Would Israel cease to exist as a Jewish State, would it have to be separated into two nations?
MOSCOVITCH: It is impossible to have a majority Muslim Arab population in a Jewish state; that would be antithetical to Jewish values. Israelis and Jews have a firm belief in democracy, which is one of the reasons that many Israelis do not want to annex the West Bank and result in more non-Jews living in a Jewish state.
A majority-Arab population would result in a one-state, bi-national solution, which would therefore eradicating the Jewish state. Both Jews and non-Jewish Arabs would live together and govern accordingly. However, elements on both sides would likely attempt to infuse religion into the debate. The Jewish population could seek the inclusion of Jewish law in governance, while Muslims could advocate governance by Sharia.
In that latter scenario, extremist Muslims could pursue a radical interpretation of Sharia that would include the suppression of minorities -- including women, homosexuals and non-Muslims -- therefore resulting in an anti-democratic state, possibly akin to Iran.
This one-state solution is unacceptable and would destroy the modern concept of Israel and Zionism. Annexing the West Bank would only bolster the likelihood of that doomsday one-state solution scenario.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.


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Active-duty US troops become outspoken critics of Iraq war
A recent op-ed about the war in Iraq charged that upbeat official reports amount to "misleading rhetoric." It said the "most important front in the counterinsurgency [had] failed most miserably." And it warned against pursuing "incompatible policies to absurd ends."
Five years into a controversial war, that harsh judgment in a New York Times opinion piece might not seem surprising, except for this: The authors were seven US soldiers, writing from Iraq at the end of a tough 15-month combat tour.
In books and professional journals, blogs, and newspapers, active-duty military personnel are speaking publicly and critically as never before about an ongoing war.
Respectfully, but with a directness and gritty authenticity that comes from combat experience – sometimes written from the battlefield – they offer a view of current strategy, military leadership, and the situation on the ground that is more stark than Pentagon and White House pronouncements.
Part of this reflects weariness with the war. But it also represents a shift in military culture where speaking up publicly is more usual and acceptable than in previous conflicts, experts say, thanks to changes in technology and society.
"This is the first post-Internet, post-digital-camera war" in which "the line between private lives and public lives has been blurred," says Eugene Fidell, a former military lawyer who teaches military justice at Yale.
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), as long as uniformed critics do not speak or write using "contemptuous words" regarding the president or other senior officials, they are free to voice their opinions, notes Mr. Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice. "We're a nation built on free expression, and it can get pretty noisy."
Part of this criticism reflects weariness with the war, especially among those serving multiple extended combat tours.
"You could almost construct an equation to predict the rate at which dissension in the ranks will reach the public as support for a war sours," says military analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, a public policy think tank in Arlington, Va.
"I have to tell you as somebody who deals frequently with the military, there's been a lot of disagreement for a long time about this war," he adds. "It just tends to get expressed obliquely and in private."
A May survey of Army soldiers in Iraq showed 45 percent with "low" morale compared with 19 percent who said their morale was "high." The percentage of West Point graduates who quit the Army after their five-year obligation has more than doubled since the Iraq war began in 2003.
More and more, a vocal minority is also speaking out publicly – a far cry from the World War II era when, in order to keep his political conscience clear, Gen. George C. Marshall never even voted.
Earlier this year, Army Lt. Col. Paul Yingling challenged his superiors head-on in an article in Armed Forces Journal.
The Vietnam and Iraq "debacles are not attributable to individual failures, but rather to a crisis in an entire institution: America's general officer corps," wrote the former West Point instructor and Iraq veteran who recently took command of a battalion. "In both conflicts, the general officer corps designed to advise policymakers, prepare forces and conduct operations failed to perform its intended functions.... As matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war."
Acceptable target: the system
Colonel Yingling's target was institutional, not personal.
"He is going after the system – training, experience, the promotion system that produces mediocre generals because all the innovators get fed up and leave," says retired Army Col. Dan Smith, a military analyst with the Friends Committee on National Legislation who fought in Vietnam and later taught philosophy at West Point.
Military sources in Iraq and Washington also voiced their criticisms on the record in "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq ," Washington Post reporter Tom Ricks's best-selling 2006 book, The blogosphere is filled with soldiers grumbling, not only about lengthy repeated tours but also about the wisdom of invading Iraq in the first place.
Is all of this a good thing?
"In these times when so few have any personal experience of the military, it is good to have their voice in the public discussion," says retired Naval Reserve Capt. John Allen Williams, a political scientist at Loyola University Chicago who teaches civil-military relations.
But some observers worry that active-duty personnel speaking out in this way begins to trespass on the constitutionally mandated civilian control of the military.
"The notion that the military defends democracy but does not practice it still seems sensible to me," says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense-information website in Washington. "We have sufficient serious problems with civil-military relations without adding a politicized military as just another interest group."
There are obvious reasons for not speaking critically of one's superiors or the mission: harm to one's chances for promotion as well as potential legal difficulties from going too far under the UCMJ.
But here, enlisted men and women may have more freedom to speak out since the "contemptuous words" provision applies exclusively to officers. The seven soldiers who signed the column in The New York Times are infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division.
"To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched," they wrote. "Yes, we are militarily superior, but our successes are offset by failures elsewhere. What soldiers call the 'battle space' remains the same, with changes only at the margins."
Enlisted men freer to speak
However harsh the language, the soldiers' status may protect them from military discipline.
"Enlisted men, so long as they ensure that they explicitly state that they are expressing their own opinion, can say anything they want, which is exactly what these men did," writes active-duty Army Lt. Col. Bob Bateman in a blog at the online information-exchange and discussion site Small Wars Journal.
But he takes them to task for asserting that they have knowledge about conduct of the war which is "way above and beyond their positions."
"The fact that they, like me, wear uniforms should not convey some sort of magic pixie-dust validity to their opinions on events way beyond their personal experience, just as it does not for mine," writes Colonel Bateman, recently back from Iraq himself.


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哈尔滨松花江. Despite heavy smog there is a lot of life on the frozen Songhua River, Harbin, China: photo by SinoLaZZeR, 23 November 2013
Once I thought: in distant times
When the buildings have collapsed in which I live
And the ships have rotted in which I travelled
My name will still be mentioned
With others.
Because I praised the useful, which In my day was considered base
Because I battled against all religions
Because I fought oppression or
For another reason.
Because I was for people and
Entrusted everything to them, thereby honoring them
Because I wrote verses and enriched the language
Because I taught practical behaviour or
For some other reason.
Therefore I thought my name would still be
Mentioned; on a stone
My name would stand; from books
It would get printed into the new books.
But today
I accept that it will be forgotten.
Should the baker be asked for if there is enough bread?
Should the snow be praised that has melted
If new snowfalls are impending?
Should there be a past if
There is a future?
Should my name be mentioned?
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956): Why Should My Name Be Mentioned? (Warum soll mein Name gennant werden?), 1936, translated by Robert Conard in Poems 1913-1956 (1976)
dock at dusk (Hikone, Lake Biwa): photo by Stephen Cairns, 16 September 2013


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As a teacher for 32 years, Joy Griffith sometimes felt she needed to hide her sexual orientation.
"I identify myself as a lesbian but I don't go around saying that out loud," said Griffith. "It depended on my situation and where I was."
Now she lives in a Hingham retirement community that she described as "a wonderful place of acceptance." Griffith, 78, said being open about being a lesbian is no longer as stigmatizing as it used to be. Still, she has a lingering fear: "You never know who's going to move in and have a prejudice."
Griffith is part of a growing population of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered (LGBT) seniors who face challenges different from their straight peers.
An estimated 4-8 percent of seniors today identify themselves as LGBT and the percentage is expected to double by 2030, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, as LGBT baby boomers, who are more likely to be open about their sexual orientation, age.
For many LGBT seniors, their biggest concern now is not trying to conform to an unwelcoming society, but rather, who will care for them as they get older. They are less likely to have ever been married or have children, leaving them without a close relative to take on the role of caregiver.
And many LGBT seniors still do not feel comfortable disclosing their sexual orientation. Lisa Krinsky, director of The Aging Project, a Boston-based nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of LGBT elders, estimates that as many as 80 percent of LGBT seniors in Massachusetts fear disclosing their sexuality to family members and health care providers, and are unlikely to seek any sort of dependent care because of the risk a caregiver will learn their secret.
"These seniors have an internalized fear of not being safe," said Krinsky.
As a result, many organizations that serve the elderly worry that those who are LGBT may die early and alone.
In early November, Massachusetts adopted federal guidelines that include targeting LGBT elders for outreach, recognizing them as an underserved population.
The directive issued by Governor Deval Patrick encourages — but does not require — local agencies that work with older adults to "identify and assess the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender population."
Although the exact number of LGBT seniors in Massachusetts is unclear, the need to welcome LGBT seniors into aging care programs is great, said Krinsky. She and her team train organizations that serve the aging and health care providers affected by the new directive in cultural issues and proper language to use when caring for LGBT seniors.
The nonprofit advocacy group MassEquality and The Aging Project are also pushing for a bill, H1099, that is pending in the Legislature and would make training for dealing with LGBT seniors mandatory for elder-care providers.
"We would have this opportunity to educate elder care providers, many of whom are really well meaning and want to connect with LGBT folks but don't know how to," Krinsky said.
"LGBT older adults are clearly facing all the same issues as their heterosexual peers," added Krinsky. "But there's an added layer of their sexuality."
Only 22 percent of LGBT seniors in long-term care facilities are open about their sexual orientation, according to results from a national online survey by Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders and the Movement Advancement Project published in March 2010.
"A lot of LGBT seniors came of age during an era of homophobia and a time when they may not have been treated well by people in the health care system," said Carly Burton, deputy director of MassEquality.
In the 1960s, Griffith feared disclosing her sexuality to her doctors and tried to avoid gynecologic exams.
"You were really careful not to let doctors know about that because the prejudice would have been quite harmful," she said.
Griffith knows people who still fear professional care, but they are mostly in their 80s and 90s.
"They went through so much more than I did," said Griffith. "I was right on the edge where progress was made, so it was easier for me. But for them, they had to hide hide hide all the way."
The fear of being stigmatized is another reason the approach by elder service care providers should be different with LGBT seniors, Krinsky said.
"For some LGBT folks, there can be concern about who is going to come in their home and see their pictures and their personal environment," said Krinsky. "[For] some folks the worry is that someone is going to be sent to their house and they won't know how to react."
"If they're going to assisted living, the facilities want seniors to bring photos and other objects that make this place feel like their new home," said Krinsky. "But what if those pictures are of them in drag? Can they still be comfortable in this facility?"
There's also concern about their straight peers, many of whom may also have a negative reaction.
Griffith moved to Linden Ponds retirement community in Hingham in 2007.
She has no partner and no immediate family to be an emergency contact. Because there are others like her, standard questions by health care providers should be worded differently for LGBT seniors, according to the training provided by The Aging Project. Seniors should be asked about their support system rather than children, or about their partner rather than spouse.
Burton, of MassEquality, said she thinks the voluntary directive issued by the governor is a great first step, but that it may not be enough to motivate some elder-care providers to take advantage of the available training because it is voluntary.
Still, caregivers aren't the only ones who need to change. Not only do providers face the challenge of developing trust with LGBT seniors, but many seniors who have hidden their sexual orientation from formal caregivers must learn to overcome their fear.
"Social programs within the elder agencies are a way to get them integrated with other similar folks and feel comfortable connecting with providers," said Krinsky.
The world has changed since she came of age, Griffith reminded herself recently. Her confident tone seemed to convey the importance of seniors being open with their health care providers.
"Somewhere in my 50s and 60s I was trying to find my way," she said. "I don't know quite what it is that should frighten us now."
Lara Salahi can be reached at lara.salahi


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Jazakallah for the reply brother Osama. I also just found another answer that says that if someone is bad you cannot talk bad about him unless he causes a lot of oppression to people and you want to say the bad things about him in order to WARN potential victims from him. Is that interpretation right?
Backbiting is forbidden in the Glorious Quran. Warning people about a bad person is not backbiting, and you are OBLIGATED to if it causes no harm to you or to others. But backbiting and scandalizing people is forbidden in the Glorious Quran. One can't go around and talk about people's personal things that are embarrassing to them.The Noble Verse certainly touches on all of this. But there are many other Noble Verses that I gave in the link above.Jazaka Allah Khayr too, brother.Take care,OsamaThanks but may I ask where it says in the Law that you are obligated to warn people from bad? Just a little question.


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With the marketing campaign, the WNBA is capitalizing on what it has known for years: The community makes up a significant portion of its fan base. The difference now is that the league is talking about it publicly and making it a deliberate part of its marketing strategy.
The launch of the effort coincides with a surge of political and legal advances for the gay-rights movement in the U.S., and shifting public opinion behind many of those advances.
The campaign, which begins with the debut of a website Wednesday, includes having teams participate in local pride festivals and parades, working with advocacy groups to raise awareness of inclusion through grassroots events and advertising with lesbian media. A nationally televised pride game will take place between Tulsa and Chicago on Sunday, June 22. All 12 teams will also have some sort of pride initiative over the course of the season.
"For us it's a celebration of diversity and inclusion and recognition of an audience that has been with us very passionately," WNBA President Laurel Richie said.
It's taken the league 18 years to take the step, though it had discussions about the possibility previously. Teams have done some promotion locally, sponsoring booths at gay pride events and hosting groups at games.
"We embrace all our fans and it's a group that we know has been very, very supportive. I won't characterize it as 'Why did it take so long?' For me it's been we've been doing a lot of terrific initiatives. The piece that's different this year is unifying it," Richie said.
Before launching the campaign, the league took a close look at its fan base. It commissioned a study in 2012 that found that 25 percent of lesbians watch the league's games on TV while 21 percent have attended a game.
Rick Welts, who was the executive vice president and chief marketing officer of the NBA when the WNBA first started in 1997, said that when the league began executives figured the fan base would be a carryover from the NBA.
"We guessed very wrong on that," said Welts, who is the president and COO of the Golden State Warriors and became the highest-ranking executive in men's sports to publicly acknowledge he's gay in 2011. "Maybe we should have known better. I think from its outset, the WNBA attracted a fan with different interests than our profile of an NBA fan.
"I remember sitting in a few meetings where we had really interesting thoughtful discussions of: Should we be proactive marketing to the LGBT community? What does that say if we do? We certainly didn't want to position the league of being exclusionary to anyone. What were we saying if we did it more proactively? Society and sports culture is very different today than it was back then. Teams were trying to figure out the right thing to do."
Brittney Griner, who is one of a handful of WNBA athletes who have publicly identified themselves as lesbian, was happy the league was embracing the community. Griner, who was the No. 1 pick by the Phoenix Mercury in the draft in 2013, plans on wearing rainbow-colored shoes during the month of June in support of the initiative.
"We'll pave the way and show its fine and there's nothing wrong with it. More sports need to do it. It's 2014, it's about time," said Griner, who served as grand marshal of the Phoenix Pride parade last season.
The league's campaign comes after a wave of recent announcements from players who are identifying themselves publicly as gay. NBA player Jason Collins became the first player in men's professional basketball to come out and played with the Nets. Former Missouri football player Michael Sam, who came out in print and televised interviews earlier this year, was drafted in the seventh round by the St. Louis Rams. And Derrick Gordon, a UMass basketball player, recently described his experience as a gay Division I player.
It also comes amid changes in the political and legal landscape. Just this week, federal judges in Pennsylvania and Oregon struck down state bans on gay marriage, extending a series of such rulings since December. If the latest rulings stand, there will be 19 states — with more than 43 percent of the U.S. population — that allow same-sex marriage.
That helps make the timing for the WNBA's decision right, said Robert Boland, academic chair of the sports management program at NYU's Tisch Center.
"This is a group where there is a natural affinity and marketing affinity," he said. "It's a recognition of where the world is today. I'd be shocked if there was any backlash."
Rebecca Lobo, who played in the league for six seasons and has been a broadcaster for the last decade, has seen a change from when the league began in 1997.
"It's culturally more acceptable now than it was when it first started," she said. "The league has been around for so many years they can do these sort of things without worrying about what some people might think."
It wasn't always that way.
"For a long time they were happy to have those lesbians fill those seats in the stands, but not willing for a long time to embrace the fan base," said Pat Griffin, professor emeritus in the social justice education program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "I attribute that to the homophobia, fear that somehow acknowledging the fan base would encourage other fans not to go to games. What they've learned is that the fan doesn't keep other people from going to games."
Follow Doug on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg


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I'm an amateur graphic designer. When I'm free I do some simple graphic designing with Photoshop and Illustrator (mess around with the pen tool, add style to a layer, adjust hue of an image, etc).
I've been a great fan of Dribbble and I'm always fascinated by the amazing pieces of art there.
- Circus Tent by Michael Tzscheppan
- Sandwich iOS icon by Ryan Ford
These semi photo-realistic icons are so well-designed. I would appreciate if someone can offer me some tips on designing icons like these.


text: Bill Mitchell Mitchell's cartoons used to appear in print. Then during a National Arts Journalism Fellowship, he was given a T-1 connection, a Mac and shown the Web. He's been AWOL from newspapers, living in the Northern Rockies and publishing online since '95. Comments? Yell at Mitchell Mitchell's last cartoon: Bosom Buddies 2


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Afghanistan/UN: Any agreement with Taliban must include women's rights
OHCHR The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women said Friday that "any agreement reached with the Taliban in Afghanistan should include a clear commitment to respect and protect women's human rights." The Committee urged the Afghan government and its international allies "to ensure that women representatives are included in the upcoming peace and development dialogues and negotiations with the Taliban,"
The UN body, which consists of 23 experts on women's rights, also expressed its deep concern at the exclusion of Afghan women from the high decision-making level of the 28 January London Conference, as well as at "the absence of clear strategies to protect women's rights in the process of the discussions leading to negotiations with representatives of the Taliban." The Committee pointed out that there are two Security Council Resolutions which underscore the importance of women's active participation in all peace-building efforts and recovery.*
"Afghan women, who constitute the majority of the Afghan population, must be full and equal participants in decision-making, at all levels, in the process of peace-building, reconciliation, reconstruction and development of their country," the Committee said. "Their voices and views, as well as capacities, are fundamental and necessary for the sustainable establishment of a prosperous and peaceful Afghanistan, based on the rule of law, democracy, justice, human rights and gender equality."
The Committee also urged the Afghan government to give special attention to a critical review of all discriminatory laws and provisions, based on the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against the Women (CEDAW). The women's rights experts drew particular attention to the much-criticized new personal status law of the Shiite minorities, which is especially discriminatory against women.
While welcoming the current commitment and efforts of the government and its international allies to help secure a peaceful, prosperous and democratic future for Afghanistan, the Committee reminded the Afghan authorities of its obligations under the CEDAW Convention, and urged them to modify or repeal the discriminatory provisions in the personal status and other laws.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women is the body that monitors the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which has been ratified by 186 States. A total of 104 experts have served as members of the Committee since 1982. The statement on Afghanistan was issued at the end its 45th session in Geneva on Friday.
(*) Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008)
GENEVA (5 February 2010)


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Heide Museum has a distinct relationship with Australian poetry. Formerly Heide was the residence of John and Sunday Reed. John was the publisher of Angry Penguins, and so Heide became one of the nodes of the Ern Malley saga.
Poet and editor of overland Barrett Reid also lived at Heide. More pertinently for this post is the fact that the Reed's adopted son Sweeney grew up there and became a concrete poet and poetry publisher. His work forms part - you could say the heart - of the Heide collection of concrete poetry. Reed made explicit use of both Stein and cummings in his poetry; the influence of Ian Hamilton Finlay is also apparent. Reed had plans to collaborate with Finlay when he died in 1979. Though not, apparently, prolific his conceptually dense works suggest a commitment to both the construction of his work, and the construction of a place for his work within poetry (rather than within art which was the more immediate influence: his adoptive parents being art patrons and early supporters of Sidney Nolan, who also lived at Heide. Reed's biological parents, Joy Hester and Albert Tucker were also painters).


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Cleveland, OH – Brett Anderson tossed seven impressive innings, and the Oakland Athletics rode an early offensive surge to a 3-0 win over the sputtering Cleveland Indians in the opener of a four-game series at Progressive Field.
Anderson (2-0) continued to show no ill effects in his second outing since returning from Tommy John surgery, limiting Cleveland to two hits -- one of which was disputed -- with two walks and five strikeouts.
The left-hander gave up one run and four hits over seven frames against Minnesota last Tuesday.
"The execution of pitches was probably a little bit more consistent last time," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "I think he though innings two through five he was really good with his execution, but his stuff looked really good, electric tonight."
Josh Reddick clubbed a leadoff home run in the second inning for the wild card contending Athletics, who have won nine of their last 11 games.
Cleveland starter Roberto Hernandez (0-3) worked only 2 1/3 innings before exiting with a right ankle sprain. He was tagged for three runs on four hits.
The Indians have dropped 11 of 12.
Oakland scored a single run in each of the first three innings.
The third frame was almost a carbon copy of the first, with Stephen Drew getting on base and Yoenis Cespedes hitting a booming double.
Chris Seddon then replaced Hernandez, the pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona, and gave up a two-out single to Chris Carter that plated Drew. The A's shortstop had scored on a Seth Smith sacrifice fly two innings earlier.
Anderson retired the first 13 batters he faced before Michael Brantley hit a grounder to the right side of the infield. The first baseman Carter flipped to Cliff Pennington, but Brantley was ruled safe by umpire Jerry Meals. Replays, however, showed Brantley was out.
"He had a good breaking ball and a good changeup," Indians third baseman Jason Donald said of Anderson. "He mixed really well. He definitely has enough life on his fastball."
The Indians got a "clean" hit when Brent Lillibridge doubled to begin the sixth. Jason Kipnis worked a two-out walk, but Donald grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
Cleveland threatened again in the seventh, putting two men on base via a walk and an error. Anderson pitched out of the jam by fanning Shelley Duncan and retiring Lillibridge on a liner to right field.
Ryan Cook tossed a perfect eight for Oakland and Grant Balfour closed the door in the ninth for his 15th save of the season.
Game Notes
The A's recorded their 12th shutout of the year ... Hernandez, who is listed as day-to-day, took the mound at Progressive Field for the first time since September 25, 2011 ... Seddon allowed two hits in 4 2/3 innings.


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Laredo, Texas – Robert Jacaman Sr. and his wife, Veronica Jacaman, have been arrested following the return of an 11-count federal indictment alleging a variety of violations associated with the selling of firearms and ammunition, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today. During the enforcement action today, agents also executed search warrants on the couple's residence and businesses, Jacaman Guns and Ammo at 504 E. Calton Road in Laredo and A-Frame 4 You, which is adjacent to the gun store.
"Today's arrests demonstrate our commitment to responding and addressing the supply and smuggling of illegal munitions into Mexico," said Jerry Robinette, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Antonio. "HSI remains committed to dismantling organizations involved in the smuggling of firearms and ammunition to organized criminals in Mexico."
The couple was arrested without incident just a short time ago at their residence. They are expected to make their initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Diana Song Quiroga tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. at which time the Unites States will seek the their detention pending further criminal proceedings.
The sealed indictment, returned Aug. 14, 2012, was automatically unsealed today upon their arrests by agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) assisted by local law enforcement officers.
"Two of ATF's priorities are preventing firearms and ammunition from being trafficking to Mexico and regulating the firearms industry," said ATF Special Agent in Charge Melvin King Jr. "ATF's partnership with HSI and the Laredo Police Department made this operation a success."
The 11-count indictment charges them with conspiring to provide and providing ammunition and firearm magazines for smuggling into Mexico, selling ammunition to illegal aliens and to a convicted felon and selling an assault rifle to a convicted felon.
From on or about January to July 2012, the Jacamans allegedly conspired with each other to acquire large quantities of ammunition and high-capacity firearms magazines for sale and delivery to others knowing they were intended to be exported to Mexico. Both are also charged with four counts of Illegal sale of ammunition and one count of illegal sale of a firearm to a prohibited person. Specifically, the indictment alleges they sold thousands of rounds of .223 caliber ammunition to an illegal alien unlawfully in the United States, 1,000 rounds of .223 caliber ammunition and 1,000 rounds of 7.62x39mm to an alien admitted into the United States under a nonimmigrant visa as well as two instances of selling hundreds of rounds of .223 caliber ammunition to a convicted felon. They also allegedly sold a CMMG, Model 4SA, semi-automatic rifle to a convicted felon. Included in the indictment are also two charges of illegal export of ammunition and three counts of illegal exportation of firearm magazines to include more than 10,000 rounds of 7.62x39mm, 28,000 rounds of .223 caliber ammunition and 788 high-capacity assault rifle magazines. The indictment charges them with knowingly facilitating the sale of such items knowing they were intended for exportation to Mexico contrary to the laws and regulations of the United States.
All firearms, ammunition and magazines referenced in the indictment were intercepted before being delivered to Mexico.
If convicted of the conspiracy charge, the Jacamans each face up to five years in prison as well as a maximum of 10 years in prison for each of the illegal sale and illegal exportation charges. All charges also carry a possible fine of up to $250,000 on each count of conviction.
The case is being investigated by HSI and ATF with the assistance of the Laredo Police Department. Several police officers have been cross-designated as ATF Task Force officers working directly with the federal agency, assisting in the investigation of this and other crimes. Assistant United States Attorney Homero Ramirez is prosecuting the case.
One of HSI's top priorities is the dismantling of organizations involved in the smuggling of firearms to Mexican drug cartels. The collective expertise and authorities of our law enforcement partners during this investigation significantly contributed to preventing hundreds of rifles and handguns from reaching violent criminal organizations and prosecuting those who were responsible.


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Facebook's Founding Mythology
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, my home turf, there is a good-natured intramural rivalry between Harvard and MIT. Each may be a bastion of higher learning but they are very different places with different cultures. The rival taunts go something like this: Harvard people are good with letters but not so much with numbers. The engineers down the road only use letters but, then, only in equations.
I thought about this the other day when I learned that Harvard wizkid Eduardo Saverin, a Brazilian native, had cashed in his U.S. citizenship in an attempt to out wit the taxman. You might recall that Saverin was the kid who co-founded Facebook, according to his successful lawsuit against his former friend Mark Zuckerberg.
The wonders never cease. Severin was naturalized when he moved to this country as a kid because his wealthy parents were afraid that he could have been kidnapped and held for ransom in his native Brazil.
In context for this story, Severin has an estimated four percent of the company and what's really mind numbing is that he's moving his mailbox to Singapore just to avoid paying tax on the stock when he sells it. One must wonder if international kidnapping has been quelled over the years making it safe for the ultra rich to consider such strategies.
Many people have already commented on the shallowness of stiffing his adopted homeland and about the absurd luck this kid had in landing as a room mate one Mark Zuckerberg. But no one, to my recollection, has mentioned the fact that life gets a tiny bit harder than that once you leave Cambridge.
No one has remarked on the stupidity of this logic either. Life is a game of base hits. Very often you strike out, rarely you hit a home run but to win games you manufacture runs, one at a time with base hits, stealing a base and getting walked. I feel bad for someone who thinks his life's ambition was met in college. There is something inversely Gatsbyesque about this story. Severin's move should have been to take some money off the table, pay some taxes and move on to the next big idea, assuming he had one.
This failure to appreciate the logic of the base hit and the impetuousness of cashing in his citizenship, are what reminds me of the Harvard-MIT rivalry. I can't imagine an MIT person doing this. Maybe I am naïve but my reading of the culture at MIT is that they truly like making things and finding solutions and most of the people I have met from MIT would do what they do regardless of the pay simply for the thrill of it. Money matters but beyond a certain point, meh?
So let's recap the Facebook founding mythology. Facebook was founded in a dorm room at Harvard by some of the most privileged kids on the planet. Zuckerberg turned out to be not exactly a boy scout, then the Winklevoss twins asserted their rights to Facebook, in court, repeatedly, and now Severin can't stick around to do the honorable thing.
If the engineers at MIT like making things, I wonder what motivates the kids at Harvard other than whining. Is it just the art of the deal, going in for the kill? Is it addictive? Does it take more and more to keep you sane?
These are things I will likely never know. But in the age of the 99 percent, I have a new sense of where the .01 percent come from.
inversely Gatsbyesque. Isn't that West Egg ??
Denis – well said. A pox on all their houses.
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A June day finds us once again diving around the battleship USS Arizona, whose sunken remains lie in Pearl Harbor. Larry Nordby surfaces beside me clasping his large plexiglass slate; a piece of mylar taped to it is covered with scribbled notations from his dive. "Navy's here," he announces. I look toward the boat ramp where a small landing craft full of "mudzoos" is tying up to the dock of the memorial building that straddles the wreck. Mudzoos are navy divers assigned to the Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) based at Pearl Harbor. We have a symbiotic relationship with these men, whose primary mission is as far from science and historic preservation as ours is from ship husbandry and underwater construction. Our allegiance instead is to the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, whose bureaucratic title refers to a group of diving archeologists, artists, and rangers employed by the National Park Service to promote preservation of historic shipwrecks and other underwater archeological sites.
This unit was formed in 1980, when the agency leadership decided to establish a mobile team that could help park managers "maintain responsible stewardship" over such sites. Coincidentally, I had just completed a large project in the Southwest, researching prehistoric sites flooded by reservoirs, and had pulled together in Santa Fe an effective team of park service diving archeologists. Unlikely as it seems, I found myself the first chief of a team of professional research divers based in the arid mountains of New Mexico.
In 1983 we began to survey the Arizona and subsequently the one other vessel still lying at the bottom of Pearl Harbor, the Utah, a battleship that had been converted for use as a training ship. Over the years we have found that our skills are complementary with those of the Navy. They have boats, heavy equipment, youth, brawn, and large numbers; we know shipwrecks. As older, more experienced divers—the "park rangers," they call us—we have a kind of underwater street savvy that the Navy personnel respect.
No diver who works on these ships is unaffected by them for long, particularly Navy divers. They are aware that there were new faces on the Arizona and Utah fifty years ago, when the Japanese war-planes caught a major portion of the Pacific Fleet at port. Those men had worn the same uniforms and entertained many of the same hopes and aspirations as their modern counterparts. They are part of the silt now, on the other side of the steel bulkheads.
As we clamber up onto the dock with our equipment, the Navy is raising its dive flags to warn boats that there are divers in the water. A red and white "diver down" flag and a blue and white "alpha" flag (a similar international sign) are soon flapping toward the southwest from the boat dock. From the mast on the memorial, the same colors appear in a more familiar form: Old Glory, the wind keeping her parallel to the others.
On that Sunday morning in 1941, the flags were just being raised on many of the ships when the men standing at attention were distracted by what they took to be some show-off flyboys buzzing the fleet below the altitude permitted by regulations. Even when the first bombs tore into the ships, there was still a sense of there having been some sort of accident. Not until the Rising Suns started to become visible on the planes did the full realization take hold.
Moments before, Flight Commander Mitsuo Fuchida had led, with what must have been great relief and satisfaction, a complete surprise attack. Many things could have gone wrong; some did. A flotilla of five midget subs had been deployed in the early hours of the morning and some had been spotted by U.S. patrol planes and ships. The destroyer Ward had even attacked and sunk one of those midgets more than an hour and fifteen minutes before the planes made their first strike. Why this incident didn't tip off the Pacific Command to the impending attack is still not clearly understood. There was also the Opana radar station on the north shore of Oahu, which picked up the first wave of attacking planes. When the operators reported to their superiors what their then-developmental radar technology had detected, they were told to disregard the contact because a flight of B-17s was expected from California at that time.
The strange series of events that preserved the element of surprise seemed so unlikely to some historians that they developed a "revisionist" theory of the attack. Advocates of this point of view maintain that President Roosevelt knew the attack was about to take place but let events take their course so that the nation would be outraged and fully united in its response. In any event, Mitsuo Fuchida knew as he glanced down from his rear seat in the cockpit of his command plane that he had been dealt a winning hand in the most serious of games.


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Bistro1 restaurant 33 Southampton Street Covent Garden, London, WC2E 7HE
Bistro 1 covers two floors – with the upper floor being a bit more spacious than the ground floor. The meals are quite cheap for this very touristic area of London with 2 courses for £6.90 or 3 courses for £7.90 so my expectation was not high. In fact I was quite pleasantly surprised by the food, which was quite decent especially at this price.
Deep-fried spicy chicken on skewers
The spicy chicken on skewers came with a fairly plain salad, but it was still quite fresh and had a pleasant enough dressing. The chicken was very nicley done though, being well cooked but not dry as is a common risk with chicken cooked on skewers. The garlic yoghurt dip was not especially garlicky, but it was certainly spicy. Overall, a dish exceeding expectation.
Fillet of sea bream
The main course was sea bream topping garlic mashed potato. The potato itself was perhaps just a little on the mushy side, though it's flavour was good. The fish was very nicely cooked and seasoned – certainly with a better flavour than presentation suggested.
Apple tarte tartin
Dessert was the weakest dish, being a bit excessively sweet and a little overcooked.
Cost & conclusion: I was not the one paying the bill, but 3 courses for £7.90 is hard to complain about. There were about 14 of us together at lunch, which is a group size that most restaurants have trouble to cope with (it is hard to get the same standard of food in a large group as you get in smaller groups). Bistro 1 did this pretty well, and the service was both speedy and polite. Overall, a positive experience and I'd eat here again.